Maryland is roughly two weeks away from the start of fall camp and ESPN analyst Greg McElroy was bullish on the Terps’ chances of pulling off a marquee upset during conference play. Among a group of Indiana, Rutgers and Maryland, McElroy opted for the Terps as to why they can pull off an upset that they almost completed back in 2018.
“When I think about Maryland, I remember back just a few years ago when Dwayne Haskins and the Ohio State Buckeyes went to College Park second to last week of the season, possibly looking ahead this year, they'll be looking ahead,” McElroy said during his segment on ESPN College Football. “Hey, they want to beat Michigan, they want to get back to dominating Michigan. So, a lot of the conversation's gonna center around Michigan, especially there in November.”
“Well guess what? A road trip to College Park on November 19th is no easy feat. Just look back a couple years ago. I think Anthony McFarland the running back from Maryland had 160 yards on his first two carries for two touchdowns. So they better be careful and the team with, I think the most talent and the most athleticism amongst the three that you just listed, that'd be Maryland. There are gonna be a dangerous team this year. It's just whether or not they can avoid the critical mistake, which they had a tough time at times doing just last year.”
Maryland head coach Mike Locksley also sees it as the Terps’ fourth-year head coach once again reinforced the benefit of closing the 2021 season with a bowl win. “I think having that experience has really kind of lit a fire or expedited how our team understands that the importance of putting in all that work on the front end to reap the benefits of the things we got to experience up in New York at the Pinstripe Bowl,” Locksley added.
After shattering the record books last fall, quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa returns for his second full season as the Terps’ starting quarterback where he was able to flash more consistency in the passing attack. After being named to both the Maxwell and Davey O'Brien watch lists, Tagovailoa returns this fall with a plethora of options in his arsenal as the veteran-heavy receiver room welcomes former Florida receiver Jacob Copeland into the mix. In Locksley’s eyes, the area of improvement for Taulia resides with managing the emotions that come with each game. “He's a guy that wears his emotions on his sleeves and when things are going great, he's super amped and when things aren't bad, he can be really down on himself and he's his own worst critic. And so, what we've gotta do is kind of get him to level out to where the highs aren't so high and the lows aren't so low and see that as being its next step, because as I've said, and I'll continue to pound the drum, he's one of the better quarterbacks in our league.”
While Locksley also promoted Mike Miller to co-offensive coordinator, it helps having offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Dan Enos back in College Park leading Tagovailoa’s development. “The best part about Dan is just his rhythm as a play caller. Every play caller has his own kind of niche in terms of how he does it. You know, we're involved as a staff. I sit in, we do game planning together, but he calls every single play. And then, you know, he's a guy that's called plays for a long time. Did a tremendous job at Arkansas. I can remember going up against him when we were at Alabama did a tremendous job, at Michigan State, Cincinnati, a bunch of places. And so, I think the biggest thing he brings is because he was a guy that was in that room and then, you know what I mean, being a former quarterback himself at Michigan State, a starter there, the way he's able to talk to the quarterback and now that he has a tremendous knowledge of the system that we run, it kind of cuts out any gray. He took a lot of the gray out of things for our quarterback.”
On the flip side, Maryland welcomes its third defensive coordinator in four seasons as Brian Williams has steadily climbed the ladder in College Park to fill the shoes left vacant by Brian Stewart. A personable coach that players have gravitated to while he’s worked with both the outside linebackers and defensive line, Williams will get his shot coordinating the defense after taking over play calling in both wins against Rutgers and Virginia Tech last season. “He's a guy that's worked with both linebackers and the D line and pass rushers. He grew up in the Jeremy Pruitt defensive family tree. He was with Pruitt at Florida State when he won a national championship as a young coach, went with them to Georgia and so he kind of gets it, how we want to do things and the way that it should be played on defense.”
With all the returning production on the offensive side of the ball, Locksley admitted the defense will be the “catalyst to how far we go” this fall. “We lost three of our secondary players, we lost our pass rush in [Durell] Nchami up front, starting linebacker, Fa’Najae Gotay went out. And so, with getting all these guys back for us to take that big step I expect us to take this year, it's gonna be predicated on just how much we're improved on that defensive side of the ball.”
With a chance to look beyond this season, Locksley explained how the Big Ten’s addition of USC and UCLA have amplified the recruiting pitch in an already competitive conference. “To add two programs that have storied backgrounds like USC and UCLA can only do one thing and that's strengthened the Big Ten as one of the, if not the leader in terms of conference affiliation. So, I think it's been a positive thing for us. I think our players are excited. I mean, who wouldn't be excited about going LA in November than going maybe Champaign, Illinois or Bloomington, Indiana in November with the weather.”
McElroy noted it gets cold in College Park, too, but Locksley crafted a quick response. “Good thing for us, we're a mid-Atlantic state. So, we kind of always stay pretty mild in temperature, Greg. That's another recruiting pitch.”
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More from Locksley
On momentum coming off bowl season: “You definitely see it. You know, when we always talk about taking the next step which going into last season for us, that was defined for us of becoming a bowl eligible team which gives you a chance to have a winning record. And I think having that experience has really kind of lit a fire or expedited how our team understands that the importance of putting in all that work on the front end to reap the benefits of the things we got to experience up in New York at the Pinstripe Bowl.”
On bowl experience and earning meaningful practice reps: “I think the big thing with bowl experience starts with the work that goes on before. There's a reason that a lot of the teams that make bowls the year prior tend to have a better opportunity of going the next year as well because of those extra, I think we got 15 extra practices and when you have a young team or you're a team like us that's in the developmental stage you can't put a value on what those opportunities to go out and do football and the players are excited about it because they're getting a chance to extend their season. But as coaches, you're excited because you're getting a chance to develop the younger players in your program. And we were able to do that. We played a bunch of young guys that we saved that extra, that fourth game with the opportunity say if we play in a bowl, you'll have that opportunity, and it's really, really motivated our team as we headed into our off season.”
On QB Taulia Tagovailoa’s offseason development: “I think the biggest thing for me and how when I've talked to Taulia about his next step in his development is just a continued maturity behind center. He's a guy that wears his emotions on his sleeves and when things are going great, he's super amped and when things aren't bad, he can be really down on himself and he's his own worst critic. And so, what we've gotta do is kind of get him to level out to where the highs aren't so high and the lows aren't so low and see that as being its next step, because as I've said, and I'll continue to pound the drum, he's one of the better quarterbacks in our league, if not in the country, if for whatever reason. And I just feel like people, they judge him from one quarter. He threw four interceptions in the one second quarter of the Iowa game and if you were to take that out of his season, which, you know, obviously we can't there's no way we win seven games go to a bowl game and nobody had more of a greater impact than a quarterback here in Taulia.”
On what OC Dan Enos provides: “I think the biggest thing is when you make a decision as a head coach, especially when you're on one side of the ball, whether how involved you're gonna be. And again, I would be remised if I didn't talk about, because of the experience I had at Alabama and seeing how coaching was involved with the defense, but didn't call it, that's kind of the approach I've taken. The best part about Dan is just his rhythm as a play caller. Every play caller has his own kind of niche in terms of how he does it. You know, we're involved as a staff. I sit in, we do game planning together, but he calls every single play. And then, you know, he's a guy that's called plays for a long time. Did a tremendous job at Arkansas. I can remember going up against him when we were at Alabama did a tremendous job, at Michigan State, Cincinnati, a bunch of places. And so I think the biggest thing he brings is because he was a guy that was in that room and then, you know what I mean, being a former quarterback himself at Michigan State, a starter there, the way he's able to talk to the quarterback and now that he has a tremendous knowledge of the system that we run, it kind of cuts out any gray. He took a lot of the gray out of things for our quarterback.”
On Enos’s imprint on Taulia: “Tying his feet into the ball, coming out to the progressions, two hands on the ball, all these basic fundamentals that, that, you know what I'm talking about. and that is what I mean, one of the, and again, maybe, like I said, Taulia’s underrated. I think Dan Enos as a quarterback coach and a guy that has the ability to really get the most outta that position year in and year out and the fundamental piece of it is something that you can't deny when you watch the quarterbacks that have played under him.”
On run vs. pass game: “For me, I grew up in the Ralph Friedgen era of offense and he's the mentor for me from an offensive standpoint. Being balanced is being able to do both really well. And for the last couple of years, we have not been able to necessarily run the ball efficiently more than it is how many times, and, you know, then the games we've had great success in. If you look at the wins we've had over the last few years, we've had that ability to run the ball. And I can tell you, it's kind of we're very fortunate that because of what we went through in the spring where we didn't have a bunch of our receivers available, it really gave us a chance to work on that run game. And with the five returning starters for the most part upfront, the [offensive] line is probably one of the most improved positions in our program and it's because a lot of these guys like Spencer Anderson and Jaylen Duncan, they're three-year, four-year starters. So just the growing pains of coming in and when you're not experienced up front is where you typically struggle. And so, for me, the stats sheet needs to show that we were efficient when we had to run the football and that's what balance is being able to do both efficiently based on what the defense gives us.”
On DC Brian Williams: “Again, that was really important. You know, we've had basically ‘B-Dubs’ will be our third coordinators since I've been here. You know, Jon Hoke for a couple of years and we had Brian Stewart a year ago and now B-Dub. But with Brian Williams, his knowledge of how I want us to play defense. He's a guy that's worked with both linebackers and the D line and pass rushers. He grew up in the Jeremy Pruitt defensive family tree. He was with Pruitt at Florida State when he won a national championship as a young coach, went with them to Georgia and so he kind of gets it, how we want to do things and the way that it should be played on defense. I agree with you. I do think going into this season, they're gonna be the catalyst to how far we go is what we do on defense because I feel like last year, we started out pretty well and then those injuries kicked in. We lost three of our secondary players, we lost our pass rush in [Durell] Nchami up front, starting linebacker, Fa’Najae Gotay went out. And so, with getting all these guys back for us to take that big step I expect us to take this year, it's gonna be predicated on just how much we're improved on that defensive side of the ball. And I like kind of how we look now that we've gotten everybody back in there and good.”
On recruiting pitch in Big Ten: “I think the biggest thing is that the reason people go to schools, there's opportunities to play early and then location. And so for us, we got a built-in great location here in this DMV region where we've got home of three of the top high school football programs in the country. And when you see St Frances and the Gonzagas, the DeMathas, the Good Counsels of the world that, St. John's who's won the WCAC here in this area. So for us, it starts with trying to find a way to control this local two-hour radius and then use the brand of what we do offensively defensively and our coaching staff to supplement it. And you know, there's no doubt that we're selling opportunities to play early. We're selling the location of the DMV where, you know, we're one of the few places where you can build your resume as a student and as a player because some, you can't do some of the stuff you can do here in college towns like Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, Happy Valley, Pennsylvania. There's a lot of things that being in this DMV area affords you. And then for us, selling the Big Ten man, the best of both worlds. Strong academics, strong sports, chance to compete for championships and national championships.”
On shift in Big Ten’s style of play over last 8 years: “It's the ability the offenses finally opening up. It’s funny because people, because of the brand of what the Big Ten was known for when we were growing up and I'm still a little older than you is, you know, three yards and the cloud of dust. But now when you look across this conference, there's a wide-open offenses year in and year out. Our defenses in this league east or west have been, you know, four or five of our teams are always in the top ten in total defense. So, it tells you that it's a great league but I think the offenses have finally started to create a little brand for themselves in the Big Ten with some of the guys that have been able to play and have great success in, go on and be drafted. I mean, we had two first round draft picks in back-to-back years here at Maryland in 2016 and 2017 with DJ Moore and Darnell Savage both being drafted. So, shows you what the Big Ten’s all about.”
On realignment: “It's created a little bit of a buzz. Obviously, the iconic programs like UCLA and USC for what they've done in college sports over the years. And, you know, we have a few of what we call those blue blood programs already and to add two programs that have storied backgrounds like USC and UCLA can only do one thing and that's strengthened the Big Ten as one of the, if not the leader in terms of conference affiliation. So, I think it's been a positive thing for us. I think our players are excited. I mean, who wouldn't be excited about going LA in November than going maybe Champaign, Illinois or Bloomington, Indiana in November with the weather.”
On minority coaching coalition: “For me personally, the mission was to pay it forward. I'm really blessed and honored to be able to be the head coach of the school that I grew up a fan of the University of Maryland. And again, being a former head coach that had been fired as a minority head coach there at New Mexico, to be able to send back to this job that I have now, I just owe a lot of gratitude to people that have helped me get back here. And so for me, the coalition formation was a way for me to try to pay forward the opportunities that I've been given. And the mission is simple, is to prepare, promote and produce the next wave of minority coaches by giving them the tools necessary to do it as well as helping with the skill set, the networking and the development, and then using the power like you talked about, we're becoming an ally in helping fulfill minority opportunities or at least facilitate minority opportunities in football. And there's no doubt that we've kind of maybe got a few better of better head start in the college game than maybe the NFL, but right now, they both need work and the coalition is here to be an ally to help facilitate and come up with solutions.
Yeah, it is. And it takes all of us to do it. And we've had, we've got a great board of directors that really help and assist with the mission of it and, you know, all of our board members really appreciate the efforts that they've put into it.”